The Dragon and the Princess

How the Dragon came to be

In the year 1549, deep in the heart of the Paladin castle, the crown prince lay dying. At only 16 years of age, his death would be a tragedy, especially for the king and queen, who knew they would have to pass their kingdom on to their only other son, a crooked, malevolent you-know-what.

"Mother?" He whispered, breath wheezing, lungs rattling. His brother was leaning against the doorframe, smirking, his arms crossed as he watched his brother die. One of the swarm of doctors surrounding the Prince pressed harder on the wound- a stab wound from his earlier training session with the Knights.

"I'm here," The queen whimpered. The Prince choked on blood. Doctors ran around, trying to save his life, looking like chickens with their heads cut off.

"I-" He began, "I love you-" He choked again, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. The Queen's lips twisted into a sad smile and she released a harsh bark of non-humorous, saddened laughter. The light died in the Prince's eyes and his body went limp. The Queen screamed and rushed forward, grabbed her child's hand, and wailed.

Two days later, the Plague Doctors were preparing to cremate the prince's body after the announcements and funeral had occurred. They were in the tallest room of the tallest spire of the castle when the Prince's body started to convulse. The doctors screamed in terror as with each convulsion, black scales dug out of the Prince's skin and horns sprouted from his forehead. The scales continued, his spine elongating until it came to a barbed point. The scales continued to cover his body until with a final ripping sound, massive black wings sprouted from either side of his spine. His body began to get bigger, until his sheer size had ripped apart the room, sending the doctors falling to their death in the moat. The dragon blinked its eyes and parted its jaws, letting loose a terrifying roar, deafening anyone in the surrounding city. He stretched his wings to their full length, eclipsing the sun. He flapped once, twice, and lifted off, flying hard and fast for the woods, leaving his family behind, the Queen remembering the circumstances of his birth, and the deal she had made with a dragon to save his life.

Four days later, exhausted, the dragon crash-landed in a meadow. He was spotted by the Princess of his rival country, who had been locked in a tower for all of her life, after she had been taken from her parents by the witch who had kidnapped her. She leaned out of her window, watching the labored breathing of the massive, black-scaled beast below her.

"Are you okay?" She yelled. The dragon's head snapped up and blue-gold eyes focused on her, the pupil expanding and contracting as he tried to focus on her. He attempted to speak, to warn her away from him because he's a monster, but all that came out was a deep rumble in his chest and a puff of smoke. The princess watched in horror as the dragon's eyes closed and he collapsed. She gauged the distance between her tower and one of his massive wings, and jumped. She fell through the air, spreading her arms and legs for drag, and landed on the massive tent, bouncing a few feet into the air upon landing. She slid off, back down the ridges of his spines, and landed softly on the grass. She blinked. She'd never been outside of her tower. The grass under her toes felt different than she thought it would. She looked back to the dragon and ran her fingers over his scales. They were hard and shiny. She walked around him, coming over to his head, which was easily the size of her full body. She poked his eye lid, flinching when he blew out a warm breath. She came forward again and crawled onto his nose. She placed her hand, palm up, of what she suspected was his forehead. The dragon was exceedingly warm. She blew out a breath and sat on his muzzle, wondering what she should do. She glanced up at her tower in regret. If her mother came back, she had no idea how much trouble she'd be in. She'd been beaten for even trying to unlock her door- she flinched at what would happen when she was discovered outside of the spire, beside a massive beast. A twig snapped somewhere behind her. She whipped around, but nothing was there.